My mother always loved New England churches and not just because she’d played Beano (Bingo) in almost every one of them. Her favorite church though, was on Arch Street in Boston. It was special to her because it’s the Shrine of her patron saint, St. Anthony the patron of lost things.

Whenever my mother misplaced anything important keys, money, one of her sons…

she would repeat the St Anthony prayer… St Anthony, St Anthony please come around…. something is lost and it cannot be found.

Then if it was found …she would walk to Central Square (about a mile or so), take the downtown train into Boston to Arch Street, make a donation and say a prayer of thanks to St Anthony.

To her praying to find something and then finding it made St Anthony into a superhero who could solve her problems. …But she told me that you had to have faith and be polite for St Anthony to hear your prayers.

It never worked for me if I joking said..Hey Tony, Tony Look Around …I lost something and it must be found.

My mother was firm in her belief in St Anthony … known also for his power to save lost souls… if you have met any of her sons it is easy to understand why.

One day I got a call to help her install a statue of St Anthony on the postage stamp of grass in front of her house on Allston Street. She loved the three-foot statue of Saint Anthony and asked that I cement it solidly in the ground so … ironically it did not go missing.

Using a full bag of concrete I set his feet firmly in cement shoes …mafia style.

St Anthony stood tall on Allston Street for many years protecting our home, family and our possessions. Probably because he stared directly at her house Mrs. Tavilla our neighbor also became devoted to St Anthony. She would stop by leave flowers and a prayer every so often.

And then it happened… she woke up one morning and St Anthony was gone. Whoever took him must have had a time pulling the 95 pound cement shoes I fit him with out of the ground…

All that remained was a crater where he once stood and my mom was devastated.. Mostly disappointed to think someone would steal something so special to her. She never found it funny when we suggested she Pray to St Anthony to bring himself back…

Kidding her was our way of trying to make her feel better but we underestimated the deep affinity she had for St Anthony..

A few weeks later my brother Kevin thought it might be funny to call the house and disguise his voice as he delivered a ransom demand.

He said “Hey Lady if you ever want to see St. Anthony again put $20 dollars in a brown paper bag with two tuna sandwiches and leave it on the park bench across the street”. Then he hung up…

I’m sure he had a good laugh… but little did he know that her next call was to the Cambridge Police to report the ransom request… they listened to her story and knowing our family all too well and said: “Mary someone …probably one of your boys is playing a prank on you” why not give them a call and let us know if you find out. The demand for two tuna sandwiches might have been a tip off for them.

My mother never found out who stole her St Anthony but over time forgave them. That was her superpower .. she had the power to forgive.

Ya know, I would pray St Anthony if I thought for sure that she was lost and could be found.   But I know she’s not lost …. Mother Mary is in heaven with Tony.

This was her Eulogy…..